Geografie inaspettate. Alla ricerca di nuovi linguaggi e relazioni tra comunità vegetali e persone

Abstract

Plants have always played an essential role in human life, providing food, medicinal remedies, construction materials, and much more. The interaction between plants and humans is studied in disciplines such as ethnobotany and ethnoecology, which examine the use of plants by different cultures and offer an integrative approach to understanding the process of human appropriation of nature (Toledo, 2001). The interconnectedness of biological and cultural diversity is recognized as biocultural diversity, whose conservation plays a crucial role in environmental sustainability and the preservation of community knowledge (Maffi, 2012). In a scenario of transitioning ecosystems and shifting geographies, communities will need to activate new processes of cultural significance towards their own territories, acknowledging uncertainty and changes in the life cycles of cities and regions, in order to explore possible trajectories for the future (Secchi, 2013).